Hushed Whisper
by BKSloan28
Summary: Under the ever-vigilant regime of the wary Templars, unrest grows in quiet corners, while rumours of blood magic whisper through the ancient tower halls. A story leading up to the Broken Circle quest, from the POV of an apprentice named Carys, friend to Solona Amell.


Disclaimer: Bioware own everything apart from my OCs :)

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 **Chapter One**

 _Betrayal is the only truth that sticks_

 _– Arthur Miller_

"Bran looks cute today." With her chin resting on her hands, Mary longingly stared at the Templar across the dining room. "Do you think he's had a haircut?"

Resisting the urge to roll her eyes, Carys glanced up from her plate. She half-heartedly studied Bran, her sweeping gaze touching the Templar only briefly, before replying, "I have no idea."

"Hm. It looks shorter to me."

"Why don't you go ask him?" Carys asked patiently, mentally counting to ten. It had been a long day, and conversations with Mary were notoriously tedious.

"Oh no! Gosh, imagine how embarrassing that would be!" Mary said. Carys laughed, not intentionally in a mean way but Mary frowned at her friend. "I'm glad you find that funny."

"Sorry Mary. That was unkind of me. I can go ask if you'd like?"

Mary smirked. "You wouldn't dare."

Carys forced herself to smile back. "You're right, I wouldn't."

"What's Mary right about now?" Solona appeared, taking a seat next to Mary and opposite Carys, placing her meal on the table before her.

"She thinks Bran has a new haircut." Carys nodded across at the Templar stood guard at the door.

"He has." Both of her friends looked at her, surprise clear in their expressions. "What? I asked this morning." Solona shrugged, a smile growing on her lips. All three girls giggled, before turning their attentions back to their plates.

"What is this?" Solona inspected her meal with disfavour, pushing the meagre portion around with her fork. "Is it even meat?"

"Unfortunately, yes." Carys answered, staring at her own plate. The sea of gravy surrounding did little to disguise the grey, tasteless meal.

Solona sniffed at the nondescript specimen which formed a tiny island in the centre of her plate and frowned. "Any ideas what meat?"

"It may once have been druffalo."

"More like nug." In disgust, Solona pushed her plate away, rescuing her slightly soggy bread roll in the process. "I really can't face this. Not only are we prisoners, but we are poorly fed prisoners."

"It's really not that bad."

Solona spotted Owain wolfing down his portion, seated with all the other tranquils who equally ate their meals without so much as a word. "I guess there are some perks to being a Quil." She tore a small piece from the roll and popped it in her mouth, a wicked grin flourishing at Carys' shocked expression.

"Solona!"

"What? It's true." Solona smirked and pointed a long, slender finger at Carys. "And what's more, you know it."

Carys frowned, suddenly feeling very uncomfortable. Anything to do with the Tranquils, even Solona's nickname for them, had that effect. In Carys' mind, tranquillity was the ultimate torture, and as such, she felt infinitely sorry for any made tranquil. Others however, merely shunned them; Solona was among the latter.

"Still, it's not fair to joke." She mumbled.

"You always have to be such a goody-goody Carys." Solona sighed, flicking her thick strawberry blonde locks over her shoulder in one subtle movement.

After a few minutes of the girls eating in silence, Solona kicked Carys gently under the table to gain her attention. Carys refused to look up.

"Look who just walked in." Solona said, a smirk playing on her lips.

"Who?" Carys asked automatically, though she already knew exactly who it was. It had just turned six, which meant a change of shift; which meant Cullen was taking over from Bran.

"Who do you think?" Solona asked sardonically. Carys didn't look up, but she could feel Solona watching her intently, her gaze burning a hole into her forehead.

"Well he's still as handsome as ever." Mary muttered dreamily. Carys said nothing; instead she slowly ate the remaining food from her plate.

"Why don't you talk to him Carys?" Solona asked, relentless as usual.

"Why don't you?" Carys spat back, still refusing to raise her gaze to look at the Templar by the door.

"I do! Maker, practically everyone does." Solona frowned. "Except you."

"And it's going to stay that way."

Solona sighed again, shaking her head as she said, "Fine. Suit yourself."

"Where were you anyway?" Carys deliberately changed the subject, hating any sort of attention; especially any that involved discussing her undesired crush on a certain Templar, with his insanely cute golden curls and enchanting amber eyes.

"Talking with the First Enchanter."

"Why?"

"He wanted to have a chat. He says I've 'come on a long way', whatever that means." Solona rolled her eyes and took another bite of her roll.

"Sounds like he's pleased with you." Carys replied, repressing the feeling of intense jealousy that surfaced.

"Hmm." Solona finished her bread, then leant in and whispered "I have a feeling that my Harrowing is soon."

"You do?" Carys' eyes widened, her jealousy vanished and replaced with concern.

"Hmm. They've all been acting weird." Solona replied impassively, avoiding eye contact with her friends.

"How do you mean?"

"The Templars are watching me more closely, and I've seen some of the senior enchanters whispering but as I approach they fall silent."

"Solona… you're probably just being paranoid." Carys said, her tone sympathetic and falsely optimistic.

"Maybe. Anyway, I'd rather not think about it." Solona shrugged it off, still careful not to meet her friends' eyes. Carys reached across the table and took Solona's hand.

"If it is your time, you'll be fine. If any of us can make it, it's you." Carys offered a small but reassuring smile. What she had said was the truth; Solona was smart, confident, extremely talented and well, beautiful; everything Carys was not.

She'd make it through, Carys had no doubt.

She worried fervently about her own Harrowing though. Carys had always been the timid one of the three; granted she was more intelligent than Mary but compared to Solona, she was nothing. Ever since they had become friends as young girls, both she and Mary had quite happily lived in Solona's shadow.

They had all entered the Circle at a similar time, bonding over shared tears and stories of home, sticking together as they adjusted to the new way of life within the tower, with Templars watching their every move. It was a strange life, but slowly it had become all they knew, the world they had known before slipping away and becoming confused with childhood fantasy.

When they were younger, under strict Templar supervision of course, they'd been allowed outside the tower walls once a week for exercise. It had always been a welcomed treat, Carys often finding herself counting down the days until the next outing, the tower still much like a prison to her. At least up until the day someone tried to escape. There'd been so much blood; Carys didn't even realise a person could bleed so much, didn't know such an amount could be held in one body. Afterwards, the prospect of going outside had frightened her; it became far easier just to stay inside and do as you were told.

Still, none of the apprentices knew what the Harrowing actually entailed, the details of the ceremony kept secret by the Templars and those that had already gone through it. Correction, those that had survived it.

For years, the three girls had joked about what actually happened, each conspiracy more dramatic than the last. Their favourite was that each apprentice had to fight a Templar, seeing as on occasion, one of the attending Templars would reappear worse for wear and the apprentice would not reappear at all.

"Thank you." Solona smiled warmly, glad of her friend's support. Her gaze flickered over to Cullen, her smile changing to a smirk. "I wouldn't mind taking him on. And not just for my Harrowing."

"Solona!" Mary giggled, as Carys felt her heart skip a beat.

"I don't think Carys would mind either."

Carys' cheeks flamed. Another thing that Solona was an expert at was finding weak spots and pushing. Hard.

When Carys didn't reply, Solona began surveying the room with a playful confidence. "Has either of you seen Jowan?"

"Not today."

"Do you think he's hiding from me?"

"He's probably in the Chantry. Again." Mary said, now engrossed in studying Cullen.

"With his infamous girlfriend? Has anyone actually met her?" Both Carys and Mary shook their heads.

As the conversation lulled, Carys' mind drifted to her morning class and the girls who'd been loudly whispering in the corner. She began to chew at her lip, unsure whether to bring it up or not. But Solona was her friend, and therefore she deserved to know what was being said about her other friends. Right?

"Solona, I've heard rumours about Jowan." Carys said gingerly.

"Blood magic right? Is that still going round?" Solona asked, rolling her eyes. "I swear some people have nothing better to do with their lives."

"So they're not true?" Carys asked sceptically.

Solona snorted. "Of course not! Seriously, Jowan doing blood magic? That's laughable." Solona saw Carys' uncertain expression. "Come on Carys, you can't believe everything you hear from those tittle-tattlers. _Surely_ you know that." To Carys' ears, Solona's tone sounded extremely condescending.

"I don't like him. He… gives me the creeps."

"You don't like anyone. Jowan's harmless. Useless really, bless him."

Tired of feeling belittled, Carys got to her feet. From their years of friendship, she'd very quickly learnt that when there was something Solona did not wish to hear, it would go unheard, regardless of how loud you shouted.

"Where are you going?" Solona asked, a little shocked by her friend's sudden movement.

"To the library."

"Again? I swear you never leave that place. You're as bad as Jowan with the Chantry." Solona raised an eyebrow. "Have you got a boy hidden in between the bookshelves?"

"No!" Carys exclaimed and Mary giggled. Several heads turned in their direction, causing Carys' cheeks to burn with embarrassment. "Of course not. I just like reading." She mumbled, silently cursing Solona.

"If you say so. Fine, see you later then."

With her cheeks tomato-red, Carys left the table and scurried past the Templar stood guard with amazing speed. Not once did she look up.

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A/N: So this is the second story based on Dragon Age that I have started to upload. This one is very much a rough idea at the moment, I have a vague outline for it but I would really appreciate hearing your thoughts so far. They might help me shape it a little more.

I'll be posting once a week, maybe more depending on time.

If you haven't seen my first fic, Forgotten Lives, please take a look :)


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